The Jersey Shore we knew is lost forever

Shards of twisted metal strewed along the shoreline are all that’s left of the FunTown Amusement Pier in Seaside Heights, one of the New Jersey towns pulverized by Hurricane Sandy last week. Much of the historic town and boardwalk—the backdrop for the boisterous reality TV show “Jersey Shore” —was completely washed away by the superstorm. Developed in the early 1900s as a summer resort, Seaside Heights became a popular retreat for generations of Americans. The town’s modern boardwalk and century-old merry-go-around were torn apart by the storm, and the town’s iconic roller coaster was swept into the sea. Along with New York, New Jersey took the brunt of the damage. The Garden State will account for a third of the total economic losses wrought by Sandy, according to disaster-modeling firm Eqecat. See more images of both the damage wrought by the storm and of the Jersey Shore that many will sorely miss. (Slide show captions by Quentin Fottrell)

Reuters

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Scenes like these of boats washed ashore were repeated across much of the Jersey Shore, a stretch of coast perhaps first made internationally famous by New Jersey native Bruce Springsteen in his 1973 debut album “Asbury Park.” Springsteen, in fact, started his career playing in now long-forgotten clubs in the area and is now helping to raise funds for the restoration of the Jersey Shore. Images of downed power lines, homes torn apart like doll’s houses and streets flowing with water were captured all along the previously pristine beaches that attracts millions of tourists every year. According to a local news report, one beach home looked like it had been hit by a wrecking ball.

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This image of Seaside Heights boardwalk looking toward Funtown Pier on a typical summer afternoon, taken in 2008, shows that the boardwalk had lost little of its charm over the past 100 years: the ubiquitous Ferris wheel, sea gulls gliding overhead, parents with their strollers, and kiosks selling salt water taffy. In fact, taffys were originally created and marketed in Atlantic City in the late 19th Century. In fact, taffys were accidentally discovered in 1883 when David Bradley’s candy store was flooded during another major storm. When a little girl came in looking for her favorite candy, Bradley said all he had to offer her were “salt water taffys.” And New Jersey’s favorite candy was born.

Reuters

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The storm surge ripped Seaside Heights beachfront homes off their foundations and dumped them blocks away. Before the storm, this was an archetypal beach town beloved by generations of families. After, Sandy left a waterlogged wasteland in many parts of New Jersey in its wake, bringing down power lines and crippling the area’s transportation system. Online forums are full of people sharing memories of their vacations in the place that’s perhaps more synonymous with Snooki and The Situation from “Jersey Shore.” According to one woman’s reminiscences on DiscoveringSeasideHeights.com, the area is as quaint as ever: “I loved it as a child and still loved it when I grew up and took my children and grandchildren there.” At left, residents survey the damage in Seaside Heights.

Reuters

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Water, wind and sand also brought destruction to once idyllic neighborhoods in Seaside Heights, as this aerial shot shows. Houses were demolished, tossed about or partially buried by the sand. One was even cut in half and then flipped upside down by the storm. Ahead of the storm, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie ordered a mandatory evacuation of the Seaside Heights, but an estimated quarter of the residents decided to stay and face what historians say is one of the worst storms in the state’s history. Christie has pledged to restore the town to its former glory: “We’ll rebuild it, no question in my mind we’ll rebuild it, but for those of us who are my age, it won’t be the same.”

Reuters

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Not since 1962 had residents of the Jersey Shore experienced such a storm. Of course, many of today’s houses were bigger and better built to withstand the force of the hurricane. However, Sandy brought another challenge for those residents who are cleaning up in its wake: sand. Several feet of it was dumped on Tradewinds Lane, (left) a street in Sea Bright, N.J. during the superstorm last Monday. As this picture shows, now that the water has receded much of the sand and debris have now turned to sludge. In other parts of the Jersey Shore, massive sand dunes where families played during the hot summer months also helped protect some homes from the brunt of the storm. “We’ve got a big task ahead of us that we have to do together,” New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said last week. “This is what New Jerseyans are built for.”

Reuters

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While most of the power has now been restored, the storm left nearly 2.7 million people were without power in New Jersey last week. This image of people walking past a beach club in Sea Bright gives an idea of Hurricane Sandy’s strength but it also gives a glimpse into the devastation that the hurricane wrought on New Jersey’s $35.5 billion tourist industry. Much of Jersey Shore has been reduced to a block-after-block of crumbling resorts uprooted from their foundations and flattened beachfront homes. Many local businesses like Donovan’s Reef Bar and Restaurant, for example, were completely demolished by Sandy last Monday. During last week’s telethon on NBC, Bobby Bendiera, a backup guitarist with Bon Jovi, wore a “Donovan’s Reef” T-shirt as a tribute to the popular watering hole.

Reuters

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Some residents were able to return to Bay Head, (left) a borough in Ocean County, N.J. and one of the hardest-hit areas in New Jersey by the storm. Streets here were flooded with seawater in the aftermath of Sandy, which made landfall just as the Atlantic Ocean reached high tide. Bay Head, a tony coastal town where many Wall Street financiers have multi-million-dollar homes, suffered the same onslaught from Sandy as many of its more modest neighbors. The area’s geography made it especially vulnerable to Sandy. A central part of Jersey’s “Gold Coast,” it consists of a long, narrow barrier peninsula and is all that separates Barnegat Bay from the Atlantic Ocean.

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Just south of Atlantic City, Wildwood had one thing in its favor: some of the widest beaches along the shore with the boardwalk a half-mile from the shore in some parts. Will Morey, president of Morey Piers and Beachfront Waterparks, told reporters that his rides would be up-and-running again well before Memorial Day. In fact, officials didn’t let the damage caused by Sandy delay the announcement of winners in the “Share Your Love” online marketing campaign, which asked visitors to share their memories of the area. One woman wrote: “Being born and living in Philadelphia from 1950 to 1966, most of those summers were spent at my grandmother’s house on Hildreth Avenue way before the condos were built and the railroad tracks were still in place.” At left, a view of Wildwood taken in 2008.

Reuters

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Looking ahead, experts advise consumers to document the damage to speed up the claims process, and to resist throwing out valuable items even if they were damaged beyond repair by the storm. The man pictured here is taking a photograph of his friend’s home in Bay Head, N.J. Like the Hamptons, New Jersey is also home to the rich. For instance, Monmouth Beach, a popular playground on the Jersey Shore since the early part of the last century, is known as much for its modern multi-million-dollar homes as it is for its quaint Victorian houses. Hurricane Sandy may cost the insurance industry up to $20 billion with the cost to the economy hitting $50 billion, according to Eqecat. Touring the area last week, President Obama pledged to use federal funds to help rebuild the area. “We are here for you,” the president said, “and we will not forget.”

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